During the visit of RAS Academician V.V. Rozhnov and senior researcher A.A. Yachmennikova in September 2023, documents were signed in China confirming at the official international level the extension of cooperation between the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Academy of Sciences of Heilongjiang Province.
In accordance with the signed documents, for the exchange of experience and for the development of international cooperation, from November 22 to December 14, the Institute was visited by the coordinator of international cooperation from the Institute of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Academy of Sciences of Heilongjiang Province - Zhu Shibing.
During Zhu Shibing’s work at the Institute, materials for publication were discussed and prepared based on data previously collected by the Russian-Chinese team in the PRC (2018-2019). We also discussed and agreed on a joint work plan for 2024, which includes the development and continuation of work on the characteristics of the tiger’s habitat in connection with the spread of permafrost. Earlier, at the conference “Mammals of Russia: faunistics and issues of theriogeography”, held in the city of Rostov-on-Don, April 17–19, 2019, abstracts on this issue were published, but the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the planned work for 4 years: Rozhnov V .V., Zhu Sh., Chu I, Kotlov I.P., Sandlersky R.B., Yachmennikova A.A. Permafrost as a possible factor in the formation of the Amur tiger's habitat. Proceedings of the conference "Mammals of Russia, Faunistics and Theriogeography Issues", April 17-19, 2019, Rostov-on-Don, KMK Scientific Publications Partnership, Rostov-on-Don 2019 P. 233-236.
In addition to the ongoing joint work on studying the Amur tiger in China, the prospects for cooperation between the Institutes in a new direction were discussed: joint research on monitoring greenhouse gas emissions, which is planned to be implemented jointly with the V.N. Sukachev Laboratory of Biogeocenology (under direction of Yu.A. Kurbatova, Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences). For this purpose, Zhu Shibin was organized to familiarize himself with the work of the South Valdai Ecological Observatory “Okovsky Forest” of the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, located in the area of the Central Forest Nature Reserve. Data from environmental-climate stations are the basis for scientific monitoring of gas exchange processes in ecosystems and greenhouse gas emissions. With the help of off-road special equipment, employees of the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, with the assistance of colleagues from the Central Forest Reserve, visited two such stations and became acquainted with the operation of the equipment installed on them. The Chinese side is certainly interested in the development of carbon testing sites on its territory and, due to the relevance of such work on the territory of the PRC, they are actively adopting the successful Russian experience.